Weber still the starter -- unless it's Alipate

EAST LANSING, Mich. -- The Gophers have had just one quarterback all season. Now they may have too many. Well, probably not, but Jeff Horton couldn't help joking about it. Who will start at quarterback next week, the coach was asked? "Moses Alipate," the coach said, naming the redshirt freshman (and Bloomington Jefferson star) who has yet to take a snap as a Gopher. "I'm thinking about using Moses more this week, too. Try to get him ready." OK, so we think he was joking. Still, the coach seemed to feel unburdened by having given MarQueis Gray a shot at running the team, as an increasingly large and loud group of Gopher fans had urged him. But Horton made sure everyone understood that the move didn't reflect any doubts about Adam Weber, who started his 48th consecutive game Saturday. He repeated that he still believes Weber throwing to Gray is the Gophers' best lineup. And asked how Weber took being asked to stand on the sidelines during two series against Michigan State, Horton grew emphatic. "Adam Weber handles everything better than anybody in this room, probably better than anybody in the state," he said. "Adam Weber is the ultimate Gopher." Gray seconded that notion, too. "He just tapped me on the butt, said 'Great job, keep my eyes down the field, and great throw,' " Gray said. "He just encouraged me the entire time." Weber finished the day with 167 passing yards and a touchdown -- to Gray, naturally. That gives him 10,528 yards in his career, good for fourth all-time in the Big Ten. By passing Chuck Long of Iowa (10,461), Weber now trails only Drew Brees of Purdue (11,792), Curtis Painter of Purdue (11,163) and Brett Basanez of Northwestern (10,580). The TD to Gray was also the 70th of Weber's career, making him the eighth player in Big Ten history to reach that mark.

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Randy Johnson has been covering college football in one form or another since the early 1990s. He was the Star Tribune’s main college football editor on the copy desk for nearly two decades before returning to reporting in August 2017 as the beat writer for Gophers football. Randy has covered a Rose Bowl (Joe Paterno’s 1994 Penn State team), and he covered a John Gutekunst-coached Gophers team that missed out on the 1990 Weed-Eater Bowl. Email Randy to talk about the Gophers.